Enhancing the beauty of one's eyes is of significant importance to consumers and has led to the development of very large product categories in both cosmetics and skin care. In particular, enhancing the visibility of eyelashes has become a multi billion dollar industry and continues to grow. Mascara is used to enhance the beauty of a person's eyes by coating the lashes to thicken, lengthen, and darken the eyelashes. As a result, consumers tend to be very passionate about their mascara, often stating that it is the one cosmetic product that provides the biggest impact on overall appearance. In fact, many women feel self-conscious being seen without their mascara. Many women would like their mascara beauty benefits to be available all day, every day.
There are generally two types of mascara, water resistant and waterproof. Water resistant mascara can be removed with warm water and soap, while waterproof mascara is typically removed with a make-up remover product. Both types are typically applied and removed during the same day. This leaves many time-points in a consumer's life when she is not able to enjoy the beauty benefits of mascara. Though many consumers wish they could have the lash beauty that mascara provides all the time, current technologies do not allow for this because they are not durable enough to withstand typical wear insults like rubbing, washing, sweating and sleeping. To date, products promising multi-day benefits have acted more as either lash stains or dyes, which provide a lash darkening benefit but fail to provide fullness and length, or water-proof type “long-wear” mascaras that do not maintain the initial beauty look over multiple days. But “long” is a relative term, and existing long-wear mascaras are designed to eliminate reapplication during the day, but also to be easily removable by the user using soap and water or a make-up remover product. Current technologies do not last through showering and sleeping and are therefore not suitable for truly semi-permanent wear. Conventional lash stain products provide color but not the thickening benefits that consumers want from mascara products. Furthermore, the beauty look of such lash stain products tends to degrade rapidly after the first day of wear.
A new category of cosmetic is desired. Semi-permanent make up is being increasingly sought out by consumers who want to look more beautiful at all times—whether working around the house, working out at the gym, or swimming in a pool. It provides added confidence in their appearance, giving them a sense that they are always ready for what life brings them. And a semi-permanent mascara technology that provides full mascara benefits of long, dark beautiful lashes for multiple days is seen as a time saver as it does not require daily application or the frequent touch-ups of conventional technologies.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a semi-permanent mascara that can withstand the environmental insults typically faced by a mascara in use for more than twenty-four hours. It would also be desirable to provide a semi-permanent mascara that can withstand exposure to water and soap during showering and facial cleansing. It would further be desirable to provide a semi-permanent mascara that exhibits good abrasion resistance.